Any country gems out there @ $200K

Hi there,


I am looking at IP no 6. I am getting close to being maxed out but want to try and pick up a nice country property for around the $200K mark. I may be kidding myself but I am looking at the following areas :

Narromine
Nyngan
Gunnedah
Quirindi
Kandos


However, as I have IP's in QLD,NT, SA, NSW I am open to any suggestions. I was looking at some on the net in Tasmania as well. I am trying to get a little cheapie, that will tick the boxes, pay its way and hopefully have a bit of growth in 5-7 years. The raw stats look ok in most of those above but I would love some suggestions, advice etc. Open to any other states or ideas.

Sometimes you have to roll the dice and have a crack.

Cheers

Gunnedah has Coles moving out I think (??) there was a post here on it a while back.

If you can go to $250K I have a better idea if you want to PM me. 8% yield and decent CG.

Sorry if this appears thick, but how do yuou send a PM ?

There's one here for sale http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105782794 that ticks your boxes. It has just been subdivided so the ad is very misleading and I have no idea if the house is being sold before or after the fences are put back (it is currently a house looking a bit forlorn in the middle of a freshly bulldozed paddock with no fences and lots of survey pegs). Unless there are plans to clean up the outside (making good the fences, mostly) you'd hope the price could be talked down to compensate, in which case the yeild would be really, really good.

It has no subdivision potential obviously, but the outside of the house could clean up a bit to add value, and it is rented furnished until Feb for $200pw. Rental vacancy rates here are below zero and they are building more wind farms so there will be huge demand for rentals for the next few years at least. And I've seen far worse houses than this one sell for well over $200k, but tenanted houses don't move fast here - let alone ones with no freakin FENCES. The state is has been in for the last two weeks since they bulldozed the yard is enough to put anyone off, honestly ...

I've recommended this one as a good investment before so for all I know it is already sold ...

burstock said:

Sorry if this appears thick, but how do yuou send a PM ?

Click to expand...

Click once on the persons name and a list of operatives will appear...it's in there....

back on topic......Gunnedah may have Coles moving out but it already has Woolworths and Bi-Lo which is plenty enough shopping for a small countyr town....but the big mining companies incl BHP are settling in quite nicely there and in Quirindi....

It will be all go here (Quirindi) for many many years to come I'm afraid...only gotta look at the Hunter Valley transformation just a hop & skip to the south....

parra1 said:

Hi there,

I may be kidding myself but I am looking at the following areas :

Narromine
Nyngan
Gunnedah
Quirindi
Kandos

Cheers

Click to expand...

Hi all,

Narromine - I'm still trying to work this one out. It is relatively close to Dubbo and people do that commute everyday. But the town itself is a bit slow in someways and there isn't much of an infrasstructure there. Most poeple go to Dubbo for their weekly shopping. Narromine does have a good airport trhough which is used for gliding championships etc and i believe that there is sometype of aviation museum going in there as well. Water and dried up rivers may be an issue there in the future though. Dubbo may be better though as the retail sector in Narromine is drying up as more people do their major shopping n Dubbo.

Nyngan - for some reason, some articles are referring to this town as a mining town but it beats me what they mine there. Cobar and Brewarrina are mining towns but i don't know aboiut Nyngan - unless they have found something there in the last few years. Nyngan is a service town though for the local cockies but not as much of a service town compared to Dubbo.

Speaking of Dubbo, you can pick up 3 bedroom brick rentals in East Dubbo for around 200k that are being rented for about 210 per week. You may get some older weatherboard homes in Sth Dubbo and West Dubbo for 200k. At least with those places, you will get a more steady rental base and if yuou do look in East Dubbo then you may also target the uni and TAFE students. Just be wary of the soil in some of the areas of East Dubbo.

Quirindi may be something to watch as it is in the northern areas where the newer northern coal seams may stretch too. This could be something to check and follow up. Top Cropper maybe able to advise on that.

Kandos - cold and bleak. But relatiovely easy drive to Sydney. It isn't a commutable drive but could be something for a weekender for someone. But it isn't a very nice area.

Another place that may interest you is Mudgee. That place is growing and is becoming a good toursit centre because of the wineries and newly established boutique brewery there. It is growing and the retail and service sector is a catchment area for the region (same as Dubbo).

To summarise - don;t just look at the samll towns and the numbers only, but look as to what is happeing in the towns and also look at the larger regional centres that are catchment areas for the region. Places like Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst, Goulbourn, Mudgee etc fall into this bracket.

Some of the things that may give you a good understanding of the town are:

- how many shops are for sale or for lease
- what are the supermarkets/major chains doing
- any new schools or major developments
- any industry
- is it a catchment area for the surrounding areas
- any uni campuses
- etc

Look at things like that. Also, as part of your DD, check the online versions of the local newspapers and see what is happening in the town.


Good luck


g

This is why I like where I live so much:

- how many shops are for sale or for lease
One. But it is overpriced and two new of the same business have since started and are doing extremely well while this one flounders. Anyone wanna buy a bakery/cafe with no future?
- what are the supermarkets/major chains doing
Just built the biggest supermarket within 60km.
- any new schools or major developments
Hell yes - new preschool (the primary school is only a few years old), new childcare center, new industrial precinct with lots of new businesses in (since there are no shops for sale or lease you need to build them). Oh and they now have a surfaced airport so all the cropdusters operate from there now, and there's flights all over the place. No housing developments though - there were two, but they are pretty much sold out. We're due for a new one.
- any industry
Oodles of it and growing. The money is all in the wind farms.
- is it a catchment area for the surrounding areas
Is it ever? The school's catchment area is huge, the town services all the local cockies, and did I mention it has the biggest supermarket around?
- any uni campuses
Gotta fail a point somewhere. Its not THAT big

Also has a really low crime rate and the house/rent prices have got so high since the windfarms really got going all the riffraff has cashed out and moved to cheaper pastures. And the permanent creek in the middle of the town is currently full of fluffy baby ducks, to add that 'cute' factor.

parra1 said:

I am looking at the following areas :

Narromine
Nyngan
Gunnedah
Quirindi
Kandos

Click to expand...

I'd put Gunnedah and Quirindi in a different class to the others. So I'd expect the trade off to be lower rental yields in those two, whereas the other places I'd want very high yields to even consider.

Quirindi and Gunnedah are either end of, and service Australia's most reliable broadacre farming area, and along with Tamworth will have a high population growth rate into the future. There is only 6 sets of traffic lights in Tamworth, one set in Gunnedah, and none in Quirindi. There is coal and gas everywhere. There is a new rail tunnel to go under the Liverpool range. This area of NSW is not experiencing falling rainfall.

As in any rural town though, there will never be a shortage of land to build a house. Rental yields are currently terrible, but they were good before prices took off starting in 2003. The best price growth has been from acreage on the edge of town. This sort of property is in demand, and always will be. A lot of rural people, and along with miners, retired farmers, and retired city people moving bush want acreage to build on, yet still be only minutes from town.


See ya's.

Narromine

Good Evening Everyone,

We've had a Triplex (I think that's a block of 3) in Narromine for the past two & a half yrs that's done really. Its never been empty for any length of time and the rent has continued to go up. We're now getting $160/wk for each unit without car accom. It's currently being valued by the bank and I think we'll pick up about $100k in growth as well.

We bought in Narromine in the first place because of it's closeness to Dubbo and on the back the continued growth in the region. The Uni has doubled in size over the past few years, Harvey Norman increased their store size and all the regional Government services are in Dubbo.

We use Macquire R/E to manage our property as Sharon seems to be driving the rental market somewhat and we've been happy with their service and fee's. I'm currently negotiating to buy another property in town to top up our portfolio that will give me positive cashflow right from the get go i'll keep you posted if we get it across the line.

Regards
Bullfrog

Can anyone recommend some country locations in Victoria that represent good value?

As an ex-Quirindite I can't disagree with TC except that Narromine is also a good town. Nyngan has some copper mining between Hermidale and Girilambone. If you want a mining town Cobar's worth a punt. I hear Endeavour is gearing up again.

To me Kandos is a town you would live in rather than invest in. Mudgee would be a safer investment with potential capital growth.

Thanks Thorpey, new to this and to the world of trying to narrow down the place for our second IP. First was really "gifted" to us, 2nd is proving to be a bit of information overload. The search continues.